Operation: Mind Games
by TheTrueAwesomeness
Summary: Some girls rely on their beauty to try and catch the famous Uchiha Sasuke's eye. Sakura, however, after getting into a bet with Karin, had to rely on her wit. Needless to say, it paid off. She managed to get a date with him after all, even though she didn't really want to. She managed to save her pride. Could Sasuke save his? SasuXSaku. Two/Three-shot.


**Title:** Operation: Mind Games

**Author:** TheTrueAwesomeness

**Rating:** K+

**Setting:** Alternate Universe

**Pairings:** Sakura X Sasuke

**Genre:** Romance and Humor

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to any characters from Naruto. Nor do I own Jimmy Neutron. This story, however, is mine.

**Summary:** Some girls rely on their beauty to try and catch the famous Uchiha Sasuke's eye. Sakura, however, relied on her wit. Needless to say, it paid off. She managed to get a date with him after all, even though she didn't really want to. She managed to save her pride. Could Sasuke save his? SasuXSaku. Fluff. Two/Three-shot.

* * *

It was a typical Wednesday afternoon. Kakashi-sensei was late, that was typical. Class was boring, that was typical. The only thing the girls in Sakura's History class wanted to talk about was the Uchiha Sasuke, that was soooo incredibly typical...

Sakura was a short-tempered person, unfortunately, that too, was typical.

She was sitting at her desk, minding her own business with her Algebra homework that was due Monday to keep her company when she just had to hear that irksome Karin girl tell her friends, "Listen, girls, all you have to be is pretty to get the guy you like. That's why I pity certain girls, especially those with features as repelling as pink hair or an overly large forehead, they'll never get any guy to like them, let alone go one a date with them!"

It wasn't really hard to overhear considering that the bitch sitting behind her actually leaned forward to finish her sentence before peals of annoying laughter filled the room.

_Ignore her_, she tried to tell herself. _She's just trying to get a rise out of you. If you do not react, she'll lose. Do not let her get a rise out of you, Sakura._

"I mean, seriously," the red-haired devil incarnate continued, "as if having pink hair and a billboard-sized forehead is bad enough, she had to be a nerd too. As if intelligence will ever get her anywhere but the girl's bathroom for a well-deserved swirly. There's no need for intelligence in real life."

That was where Sakura lost her last metaphorical straw. Burned it by accident because of her fiery wrath. You could insult her hair. And her forehead. But no one - NO ONE - would ever get away with saying something as stupid as intelligence not being needed in real life.

Even the voice in her head that had been warning her, begging her not to turn around, telling her to ignore the taunts, shut up for a moment before screaming like King Leonidas from 300- THIS IS WAAAAAAAR!

She turned her head slowly, almost too slowly, and when her eyes finally met Karin's, she could see she was smirking with triumph.

"How much of an imbecile are you?" she asked through greeted teeth.

"Oh, dear, it doesn't matter how much of an imbecile I am-

"Which is a lot," Sakura spat.

"-as long as I stay smokin' hot, I can get anything I could ever want or need." Karin said this almost too airily, proving that she is in fact, a complete airhead.

She gave Sakura a look of mock sympathy, "I understand why you're so angry though, finding out the only thing you have going for you - your _smarts_, your _wit_," she said it like it was poison, "won't even be much help in your already pathetic life."

Sakura's hands clenched into a fist. "The only reason I'm even explaining this to you is because when you procreate, I don't want you to spread your special brand idiocy. The world can't take much more of it," she said with a forced calmness. "So listen, believe me when I say you'll need your brains more than your body in the real world. Unless you willingly want to be a hooker."

Karin looked thoughtful, "Prove it then," she said. "Accomplish something with your wit that none of us beautiful girls have ever been able to do, and I'll believe you."

"Forget it," Sakura turned to her Algebra homework once more. "I don't need you to believe anything,"

"I'll pay for any twenty-five books you want. Hardbound."

That voice in Sakura's head that told her not to take the bait, then told her that this was war, was telling her once more, _Don't take the bait,_ _Sakura_.

But it was twenty-five books. Twenty-five free hardbound books. She found that she could not resist.

"What do I have to do?" she asked, her head turning towards the red-head girl of its own volition. Her eyes narrowed into challenging slits.

"Get Uchiha Sasuke to go on a date with you."

* * *

She shouldn't have accepted the challenge. The reason why she knew Karin was so confident that she would fail, not even the least bit worried that she would actually go on a date with her beloved Sasuke-kun, was because nothing, not beauty nor wit could get him to go out on an actual date. At least - Sakura wondered - maybe not with a girl?

She really shouldn't have turned around to face Karin and her taunts the first time.

Now she had to find a way to get "the Uchiha Sasuke" to go on a date with her, or else admit that brains are not more beneficial than beauty, and say good bye two twenty-five brand new, sweet-smelling books.

Too late now though, she had already said yes, had already given Karin a list of books she expected to receive. The only upside to this is that there had been no set time limit, she had the freedom to plan and observe. Though, if she was being completely honest she wanted to get things over with as soon as possible, and dive into the new books she would be winning.

She continued walking through the mostly empty halls of Konoha High, telling herself not to count her chickens before they hatched, her books before she won... But she already knew how many books she was going to win- 25!

She had to win. She had to get that date with the famous Uchiha Sasuke.

As she stopped at her locker, she saw the person she had just been thinking of turn the corner and walk the same hallway she was in. She observed his pale skin, his raven hair that, the unexpressive look he had on his face...

When he stopped a few feet away from her to what she had not known was his own locker, she was convinced that every girl in school had immense beauty but brains the size of a pea. What was so great about him? What was it about him that had them pining, _fighting_ over him?

She did not understand because personally, she wasn't all that impressed. If it weren't for the bet she wouldn't have even considered dating him. Too brooding.

Unfortunately there _was_ a bet and her pride was on the line. She thanked Kami that she had no homework. She slammed her locker door unconsciously hard, and stormed off, thinking to herself that she had a lot of planning to do.

In her haste to leave she wasn't able to notice that Uchiha Sasuke turned to look at her - an intrigued look on his face - before she rounded the corner and disappeared from his view.

* * *

That night was a productive one. It was a night filled with thoroughly going through all of a certain raven-haired boy's social media accounts, as well as those of his best friend Uzamaki Naruto, making plans, agreeing and disagreeing with herself, improving said plans, and a lot of iced coffee to keep her awake. At around midnight, after much much, _too much_ deliberation, she finally came up with a foolproof plan to get the Uchiha Sasuke to say yes.

It was actually a fairly simple plan. All she had to do was get him to notice her tomorrow, let him know that she existed, be friends, or at least acquaintances, and then by the end of the day ask him out, hoping that she was charming enough the entire day for him to actually say yes.

Well, okay, maybe it was a lame plan, but she too eager to get things over with, to have and to hold twenty-five new babies, to actually think of anything better. Plus she was always better when she was under pressure.

Truth be told she spent most of her time thinking of what to name her mission. She decided not to let the whole undercover secret agent circumstances go to waste and eventually, at around midnight, came up with the perfect name for her plan. She called it Operation: Mind Games.

That being settled, she finally let herself fall asleep.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke stood in front of his locker, ignoring the usual stares he received from the majority of the student body of Konoha High, as well as those coming from a few of the school's faculty. Although his face showed no emotion, inside he was actually bubbling with anticipation. Anticipation for the weekend to finally arrive, and the possibilities that it may bring. To put it shortly, he just really wanted to get out of school.

As he was stuffing a particularly large Physics book in his bag, he suddenly felt hypersensitive on his right side. He turned his head leisurely and found himself staring into startling green eyes. The owner of whom had a slightly strained smile on her face. "Giancoli," she said, "nice. I found it to be a rather quick read. I'm sure you did too, seeing how you're so smart."

He blinked once. And then twice. Was that a compliment she just received from Haruno Sakura?

The way she said it was so matter-of-factly, but the fact that she had decided to say it at all, that was- Was she flirting with him? Through physics?

He supposed it made sense though, she was Number 1 in their year. Always had been since kindergarten.

Still the notion that she was flirting with him and using Academics as her flirting tool, left him feeling flabbergasted. Not that he let it show, he thought.

"Hn," was all he said. Her smile didn't falter.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in class, Sasuke." She gave him the widest smile she could muster before leaving for her first class. The onyx-eyed boy noted how she did not add that blasted suffix that everyone else seemed to think they could use with his name. He watched as she walked away.

Sakura wanted to vomit and laugh at the same time, the combination she knew would not be pretty. She found it absolutely detestable, the mere act of flirting with the unimpressive Uchiha Sasuke. She found the fact that she was flirting with him not with her looks but with her intellectual prowess incredibly amusing though. She figured last night that, since her bet with Karin had been about beauty and brains, she was going to achieve her goals purely with her wit.

Being as observant as she was, she didn't fail to notice the slight passing of confusion and surprise on his face before it turned expressionless once more.

She felt like commending herself for deliberately calling him Sasuke, giving him a break from the Sasuke-kuns he normally received from his fan people.

She was sure that _that_ at least got his attention, if his watching her leave was any indication. Operation: Mind Games has officially begun.

* * *

The rest of the day Sakura saw more of Uchiha Sasuke than she was used to. She was more accustomed to hearing about him from his fans than actually seeing him. Today she was next to him every chance she could find, whether he was alone or with Naruto. She found him in between classes, during lunch break, she was also lucky enough to ask for a hall pass to go to the bathroom the same time that he did, twice. Each time she saw him, all she did was talk to him, trying to get him to see how smart she was and letting him know how much she thought that he was brainy himself, and how much she admired that fact. Which wasn't that unbelievable since Sasuke really was smart; he was in their batch's Top 10.

To be true to the bet, she made sure that she looked as unpresentable as she could be, not combing her hair, not bothering to wipe sweat off her brows despite the terrible heat.

She noticed that at first all he said was, "Hn" or "Aa", but after around the eleventh time she "bumped into" him, he started using a few other words. Until he eventually held decent conversations with her. To say that she was surprised was an understatement. The first complete sentence he said left her gaping at him like a fish out of water. Which he decided to ignore. None of her exhausting social media research last night gave her any hints that Sasuke was actually talkative. Nothing about him gave her the impression that he was actually friendly.

By the end of the day she concluded one thing. He was a closet chatterbox. She hoped he wasn't hiding anything else inside a closet, or else all her efforts would have been for naught.

* * *

She exited the school building with Naruto and Sasuke. She thought about how it somehow felt right, walking home with the two completely opposite boys, but her thoughts were sidetracked when she glanced to her right and saw Karin standing there by the railings, looking triumphant, as if she had already won. Sakura wasn't having any of that.

It was now or never.

"Sasuke," she said when they reached the sidewalk, "can I ask you something?" Without even having to hint at Naruto to leave, he left, saying something about giving them privacy or what not. She looked at his retreating form gratefully. She had pegged the blond as a rather dense fellow, but if he sensed the importance of the Sasuke and her being alone, it seems her research was wrong once more.

"Hn," was his reply, looking at her expectantly. She could feel Karin's eyes on her. Watching. Waiting for her to fail, no doubt.

Sakura realized that Sasuke may have been talking to her like she was his friend, like she wasn't a girl who started bugging him all of a sudden, and that she managed to accomplish that in less than a day, but that didn't necessarily mean that he was going to say yes to going on a date with her if she just simply asked and relied on her charming intelligence.

No. There had to be a better way. A way where Sasuke would not find a way out of her request.

Wit. This bet was about her wit. She was going to have to use it.

After a moment where all Sakura was doing was think think think, and Sasuke was waiting waiting waiting-

_Brain blast, _she grinned to herself.

"Okay. The only answers you can give to my question are "Yes" or "No". No "Hn"s or "Aa"s or leaving the question unanswered. And you have to go through with what the question implies." she said eagerly. "Understood?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, but said, "Yes," nonetheless. Sakura blew a sigh of relief; he was going to play along. It took all of her will not to do the victory dance right then and there.

"If I asked you out on a date with me tomorrow, would your answer be the same as the one to this question?"

Sasuke looked at her for a few minutes; she could practically see the wheels turning in his head.

And then he did something she did not expect him to do. He smirked.

"I'll meet you here at 4 o'clock," he said before leaving.

Sakura stood in the same spot unmoving for a few seconds before she realized, she did it! She succeeded in something that no other girl had ever succeeded in, no matter how beautiful they were. She was going on a date with the Uchiha Sasuke, and she managed that because she had trapped him. They were going out tomorrow and that means that means she _won_ the bet she had with that Karin bitch! She glanced over her shoulder, to where she knew where the red-head stood and smirked at her.

To her surprise, Karin smirked back. She wondered why that was, when she had obviously lost, when she thought, _The heck with it! I have twenty-five new books! _and promptly skipped home.

* * *

A/N: This was very pointless, if I do say so myself. But I had fun writing it, so yay! XD Not sure if this will be a two or three-shot, but definitely no more than that. Please leave a review saying that you agree or disagree that this story is pointless. HAHA. Thank yoooooou. =) Also, I would definitely ask someone I didn't really like out if the reward was 25 books. Does that make me a bad person? O.O Also, that Jimmy Neutron reference. :))


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